Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Alu Potol diye Maacher Jhol -- a fish curry with veggies

As a kid growing up in India we ate seasonally. There was no other way. Cauliflower, Carrots, Green Peas and Beets only in Winter. For a short period, maybe November to late February. By March, the carrots in the haat were shriveled old things, the cauliflowers absent and nary a green pea could be found spilling the bean.

The most that we missed once winter wrapped itself up in a Pashmina and traveled further North were the Tomatoes and green, leafy coriander. Ma, made bottles and bottles of Tomato ketchup which we hung on to until April or even May and after that dearly missed the maacher jhol with tomatoes and generous garnish of coriander which was a winter staple. Not a speck of green coriander leaf or a squishy red tomato could be found once summer set in. Later, even in the early nineties, the bunches of coriander that were sold post-Winter were sad, raggedy bunches that clearly wanted to join their sibling in a colder climate.

Summer always meant green vegetables with more water content and fruits brimming with juice. Jhinge or ridgegourd with raised thick skin, Pointed Gourd orPotolwith its deep green stripes, and pale green Lauor BottleGourd were the standard. The tender potol in the early days of summer had a glamorous life. They were pounced upon to be made into stuffed dormas, fried to grace a cholar dal or steamed with coconut and mustard in a paturi. But as they say a life of fame does not last forever.

As summer progressed it was the mango
which stole the show while potol and jhinge were
forced to lead a sad backstage life featuring in every B-grade home
cooked movie and being berated by home cooks. Just as the populace in the gangetic plains waited for the monsoon, for the summer to be over, they also craved for more color in their menu. For that though they had to wait. For Winter.

Thus there was a clear demarcation of Summer and
Winter Menu with some overlap and rarities thrown in Spring when
Drumsticks and copper colored baby neem leaves made a brief appearance.

Now as we all know it is not so. Six pack tomatoes, shiny and un-squishable lead a comfortable life all through out the year. Green, striped Potols stay put and no one's heart misses a beat on their first day, first show appearance. Here in the US though, the Indian grocer gets his Potol only in Summer. Good for me. I feel privileged to eat overpriced potol, a couple of times a year. The mundane is uplifted to the precious and I blog of alu potol diye maacher jhol which makes me go all mushy and tearful just like the tomato-dhone pata diye maacher jhol did with the first batch of deep red tomato.

Did you eat seasonally while growing up ? How did your menu change from summer solstice to winter ?

This alu -potol diye maacher jhol is a soupy, runny gravy of fish and vegetables. Suited best for hot summer afternoons it is a delight when mixed with rice and a squeeze of lime.
It is also my Ma-in-law's recipe as proffered by the husband. Unlike me, I think he hung around in the kitchen while his Mother cooked. He rattles off recipes without picking up a single phone to anywhere. And said that his Ma puts a little bit of onion in this jhol. Now,in my home a jhol will not have onion while a dalna might but this one does and it is from a Bengali home so you see when it comes to a dish there is nothing written in stone.

If you do not like Potol or do not get it you can make this same jhol with cauliflower and it will taste as good.

Alu Potol diye Maccher Jhol

Wash and clean fish pieces. The favored fish is Rui/Rohu. I have used fresh Tilapia. Rub with turmeric and salt. Keep aside for 20-30 minutes.

Chop 2-3 small potatoes in quarters and about 10 potol in halves. Before chopping the potol you need to scrape off its skin lightly and then peel of alternate strips. Heat some Oil and saute the potatoes and potol with turmeric powder and little salt, till golden. Remove and keep aside

Heat 2 -3 tbsp of Mustard Oil and shallow fry the fish till it is golden brown on both sides. Remove and keep aside.The health freaks can broil in the oven. It works.

Add a tbsp more oil to the pan. Once Oil is hot temper with2 Green Cardamoma 1" thin stick of cinnamonroughly 1 tsp of PaanchPhoron(this time my PaanchPhoron had Radhuni instead of Mustard seeds)

Let the spices infuse the oil. To avoid the spices getting burnt I often switch off heat at this point and let the spices mingle in the oil.

Switch back the heat and to the oil now add 1 tbsp of minced onion and fry with half a tsp of sugar.

Fry the masala with sprinkle of water for next 3-4 minutes till you see oil seeping from the edges. Add the potatoes and potol that you had fried and kept aside. Mix well with masala.Next add water for the gravy. Since this dish has a lighter gravy I usually add about 3 cups of warm water. Add salt to taste.

Let the gravy simmer and come to a boil. Once the potatoes and potol are cooked add the fish pieces. Lower the heat and simmer for 4-5 more minutes.

29 comments:

I never knew that coriander was a summer seasonal thing, imagine that! I think mangoes are about the only commodity now that can't be found in winter, thank God for that. But there is a breed of mango that fruits in September - December, it's rare, though, and I've only seen the green one, not the ripe one.

The curry looks tasty. Potol is something I have never cooked with and cooking fish with vegetables is also something I am not familiar with. Yes cauliflower, peas and I think carrots were all winter weather vegetable not availble year round.

Halka mach'er jhol with vegetables amader O bhalo lagey Sandeepa..garam moshla addition ta new amar jonney ..and potol kheye onek din hoyeche..we did used to eat according to season..kinto ekhon thanks to cold storage and other methods of cropping/cultivation/plantations/storage every other vegetables is available all through the year..hugs

Potol is pointed gourd? Did you coin that? I've seen it at Indian grocers here in UK - they are called parmal or parval - but never seen them where I grew up. I do buy them here and cook them with a tempering of saunf, cumin etc with potatoes...quite yum. I also have to learn how to pick the young ones as the more mature ones are not as tasty when cooked.

We've been reading your blog for some time now and really enjoy the recipes! In case you are interested, I have nominated your blog for the versatile blog award:http://ourearthland.blogspot.ca/2012/06/versatile-blogger-award.html

" The tender potol in the early days of summer had a glamorous life", that was one of the best descriptions ever. Potol were a welcome change at the beginning of summer, but I also remember how things would get somewhat boring as summer progressed. You get those "buro" potols towards the end with huge seeds, which I hated to bite.

humm yum! Yes childhood was full of seasonal variations and hence nostalgia and memory. I wonder if my child will remember anything season wise! I wrote a blog on similar lineshttp://blog-e-zine.blogspot.in/2010/07/when-summer-meets-winter.html

You know when I was in Calcutta, potol used to be one of my least favourite veggies, now however it has almost become the centerpiece of my visits to Patels (to patel for some potol )! Maybe I am growing old :)By the way, in BS's blog, if you could please allow comments to be posted by using just names, that'd be nice for us who have embarrassing old one-post blogs attached to their google names that they'd rather not make public :)

Sandeepadi....Macher Patla jhol is sooooo Bengali thing...myself a Bengali married to a Bihari had to really adjust to Fish cooked in thick masala of Onion,garlic, mustard paste etc. etc. with no other ways to cook fish.

though am slowly warming to mom-in laws- idea of Fish Curry and Rice only dish, can never forget Fish cooked with patol or FulKopi or begun or any other mundane veggies, and not to forget the Chara Pona mach diye Chaccharies and tentul tok.

Love your description of the recipes and Congrats for being selected by Harper Collins to write a book.

This is also one of my favorite dish in summer time. But the city Chennai is not very familiar with Patol. I miss that particular veggie here. Tobe ei rannar khetre ami avoid kori Chili powder ke. Tar bodole just lomba lomba kore chire Green Chili use kori.

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Predominantly a Bong, who loves being a Mom and loves to cook among other things for the li'l one and the big ones.She loves to write too and you will find her food spiced up with stories. Mainly a collection of Bengali Recipes with other kinds thrown in, in good measure. A Snapshot of Bengali Cuisine